Is that a clutch in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Hub’s niece is graduating from high school this week. He and JM left early Thursday morning to drive to Arkansas for the ceremony. WK still has a few weeks left in school and he can’t afford to miss any classes so he’s staying home with me.

I graciously offered to LET them drive my uber-cool, mom-mobile ~ a Honda CRV, recently pimped out with an Aussie-accented GPS. It gets pretty good highway mileage and it’s a comfortable ride ~ roomy. While they’re gone I have a choice of vehicles to get me to and fro. Either Hub’s manly-man F150 or JM’s little Dodge Neon.

As much as I enjoy bearing down on stupid motorists (you know, the ones who don’t know how to use turn signals or stop at intersections) I am taking a pass on the mega truck and opting to travel in the college kid’s little econo-car.

It’s a 5-speed. Need I say more? This isn’t about saving the planet from automobile emissions or scrimping on obscenely priced gasoline. Nope, I LOVE driving a car with manual transmission.

My first ever NEW car, one I bought with my own money, was a pocket rocket ~ a white Honda CRX. A tiny two-seater that I just had to have ~ saw an ad for it in some magazine. Carried that page around until the creases tore the paper. Being a quasi-sportcar (wanna-be) there was no question that I would get a stick. A car that small with an automatic… no, just no.

It was also about $500 more to get an automatic transmission, and I was all about the Benjamins.

The only problem was that I couldn’t even drive it off the lot. I had to ride home in MY new car while my dad drove it. After about two weeks, I felt confident enough to take the car out on my own. It wasn’t always pretty, or sound right, but I eventually got the hang of driving with two feet. There were times that I had to pull the hand brake and wave people around me when I couldn’t manipulate a hill and I did grind the gears a few times trying to shift, but now I drive like a pro.

I even taught Hubs how to drive a five-speed and when we got JM her car (Sweet 16 birthday present) the driver’s ed fell to me. I may have prolonged giving her the green light to drive on her own for selfish reasons, and always jump at the chance to drive it now.  I really love a 5-speed car.

There is something about the ‘feel’ of the car. The whine of the rpms as they climb, ‘feeling’ for just the right moment to shift. That tingle running up your arms and making your heart beat just a little faster. The hum of the engine vibrating through the soles of you feet and up your legs as you clutch and accelerate… ahhhh… it’s almost orgasmic.

I can understand why NASCAR drivers do what they do… there is just something magical about what you can do with a stick shift. Downshifting to slow the car, letting those rpms rev to the max before upshifting and slingshotting around a line of cars.  Shifting, engaging the clutch, hitting the gas, full-hands-on driving! I. LOVE. IT!

I’ve got the car for only a few days, then will have to give it back to the college kid. If gas weren’t so expensive, I’d be taking a road trip myself, preferrably down a long and winding road.